Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-05-26
LITTLE ADA.
A Story Taken From Life in One ofthe
Ohio Institutions.
BY DIR. A. c. BYERS

profession. he nau large pTdCIiCe
and was regarded with great conf
dence and affection among the people
whom he served. He lived within a
few miles of the Industrial Home and
was IN telephone communication, so
that he could be called at any moment
day or night, and he was always
prompt to obey any summons to the
home-for, beyond conscientious re-
gard to his professional duties, he took
great interest in the general welfare
of the institution and, for the girls,
always manifested a. real fatherly af
lection.
Little Ada was said to be l3 years
old when she came to the home. She
had been sent from one of the great
cities of the State.
The commitment read 'petit lar
ceny."
The further transcript from the
courts docket read, in addition to
what is indicated above-'can read
and write and cipher
Father and mother living
Mother is dissolute'
Must have no correspondence with
the mother.
So, last September, little Ada, in
custody of an officer of S. P. G. A,
was brough to the home.
The home is a State reformatory in
stitution, to which girls over 8 and
under Is years of age are committed.
Here the lewd, the thievlsh, the in
corriglbly disobedient, and otherwise
vicious or criminal girls are sent to be
reformed.
Here little Ada was sent She was,
owing to her age and apparent doclli-
ty, placed in cottage No. A. a build
ing accommodating fifty little girls
corresponding in age and in general
character with Ada.
The matron of No. is a middle
aged maiden lady possessed OF rare
qualities for the position she occupies.
She is of kind disposition, with far
more than ordinary social and intel
lectual culture; and with will
thoroghiy disciplined to discrlminat-
ing action. One reads these charac-
teristices in the expression of face
that attracts by its gentleness, while
indicating a force that subdues the
refractory, without adding undue
humiliation to the sense of subsection.
In this Christian matron Ada found
friend-not an officer performing her
duty in perfunctory way--but pure
and true hearted woman, touched, =
it may be said, without sacrilege--
with feeling of the infrmities' that
had brought so many little triendless
girls to her care.
Nor was this ALL The superinten-
dent and his wife, the chief matron,
having daily oversight Of nearly
three hundred girls, for whom they
manifest the tenderest sympathy, felt
themselves drawn toward Ada from
the first, and from the day of her ad-
mission until her body had been dis
posed for the grave and her coffin
strewn with flowers ready to be sent
away to her father for burial, they
devoted themselves to making her
comfortable and happy.
The history of.the child, as we have
outlined it in the foregoing pages, was
not so different from that OF many
other little children sent to the home.
The very fact that it was not uncom-
mon might and ought to awaken the
deepest sympathy. Let us look a little
further.
Ada's father was a poor man and
unskilled in labor. He had come of a
good family--highly respected, we'll
to-do people, having held high social
position, and whose circumstances, for
several generations, had been such
that they could live without labor
The fortunes of the family had, how
ever, waned, leaving she surviving
members respectable and honest, but
poor and utterly thriftless.
To such misfortune there came the
further discouragement of domestic
trouble. The mans wife, the mother
of the little daughter which he seemed
to love so much, had deserted him
and her child, to lead an abandoned
life.
Ada was 6 years old at the time.
The care of the child, thus rendered
motherless, came upon the father. 1t
need scarcely be said, he was totally
untitled for such care.
The child was thus exposed to neg
lect and want, was actually homeless,
practically friendless. The Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chill
dren interposed.
She could go to a children's home
in the city where she lived, but the
city home was private charity and
could ford only temporary care. 1t
was the work of this home to take
destitute children, place them in good
families, see that they were kindly
treated and family recognition made
of them. But the conditions of 80
placing children required legal sur
render to the control of the home, so